CanJet president announces company’s plan to launch its own travel tour operator

CanJet Airlines has announced to its employees that it plans to launch its own travel tour operator in Canada starting next winter.

CanJet, a subsidiary of Halifax-based IMP Group, currently provides charter flights primarily on behalf of Transat A.T. to vacation destinations using a fleet of Boeing 737s.

But the future of the low-cost charter operator was put into limbo after Transat announced last year it would be insourcing the bulk of the flying CanJet currently does on its behalf when their five-year contract expires at the end of April.

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Stephen Rowe, CanJet president, cleared up some of the uncertainty about CanJet’s future in a memo to staff last Friday, in which he said the airline had received ‘tentative executive approval’ to to launch its own travel tour operator under either CanJet Vacations or CanJet Holidays. He asked the employees to help pick the name, and said a final decision would be subject to approval by the board.

“This will be an exciting opportunity for us all and we have the ability together to build some special that provides a wonderful holiday experience for Canadians travelling south but also allows us to create long term stability for our employee group that is in our control and not others,” Mr. Rowe wrote in the memo to staff.

Few details were given in the memo. But Mr. Rowe did say in another memo to staff in December that if the company’s plans came together, CanJet could be operating six aircraft next winter. Those aircraft would be in addition to a contract with Transat to operate one aircraft in summer and two in the winter months, he said.

CanJet said it would also be operating in Europe on behalf of Poland’s Itaka.

‘“This will be an exciting opportunity for us all and we have the ability together to build some special that provides a wonderful holiday experience for Canadians travelling south’

In the latest memo, Mr. Rowe said the company will proceed immediately with taking the necessary steps for it to enter the tour operator business on its own as well in Canada with a flight program commencing in the winter of 2014.

“I am very excited that approval has been granted as it will ultimately allow us to take control of our business rather than being dependent upon others for our success,” he said.

CanJet will become the latest addition to the crowded travel tour business in Canada, which is dominated by players like Transat A.T., Sunwing Vacations, as well as newer and growing competitors, like Air Canada Rouge and WestJet Vacations in recent years.

Audrey Tam, interim president of CUPE Local 4044, said she was hopeful the news would help preserve the jobs of roughly 400 flight attendants her union represents at CanJet.

She said the union would be meeting with management in the coming weeks to get more details on the plan.

“There’s still a lot of information that we still need to know,” she said.